Jack and Jaffer5
by Neuropsych
Summary: (NOW FINISHED) A drunken accident threatens the lives of Jack and his best friend (not finished) read and review if you would
1. 01

Jack and Jaffer 5  
  
Disclaimer: Jack and Sam are not mine (sigh) Dr. Ray, and Jaffer are, though!  
  
~*~  
  
"Good morning."  
  
Jack smiled and opened the door to let Sam in, and Carter found herself overwhelmingly being greeted by Jaffer, who was so happy to see her that his tail was wagging so hard it was practically going to go flying off any second. The young black lab didn't jump up on her; he'd had that bad habit trained out of him fairly quickly, but he did stick his nose into her crotch in an effort to get some serious attention. Which worked, like it always did.  
  
Sam's hand reached down to move his head, and like everyone else did, she distracted his apparent need for sniffing her more private areas by petting him. Jack watched, amazed. He had a sneaking feeling that the lab did that sort of thing on purpose, knowing that people didn't like it, and knowing that they'd pet him every time, just to keep him from doing it. His dog was a lot smarter than he acted, sometimes.  
  
"Good morning, Jack – and good morning, Jaffer!" She smiled her dazzling smile at O'Neill while she gave Jaffer a final pat, and the three of them moved into the living room.  
  
"We're just finishing breakfast," Jack told her, pointing to the plate on the table that was covered in sausages and eggs. More than O'Neill himself could eat, but Sam knew from experience that Jaffer was helping him quite willingly. The black lab was five months old now, but he was huge for his age, and while part of that was simply a genetic thing – Shadow, Jaffer's mother, had been a large dog as well – another part of that was because Jack made sure that Jaffer never missed a meal. "Are you hungry?"  
  
"Nope." She'd just eaten, herself.  
  
Sam sat down at the table and helped herself to her commanding officer's juice while he and Jaffer finished off the plate of sausages and eggs. This was accomplished by Jack eating a sausage, then handing one to Jaffer – who carefully took it from his hand – then Jack would eat another, then hand another to Jaffer and so on.  
  
"I thought you were teaching him tricks?" Sam said.  
  
"Not me. The guys at the base who are training him the fine art of guard dogging are."  
  
"Can he do any, yet?"  
  
Jack grinned, and looked over at her. "Of course he can, Sam. He's a doggie genius."  
  
"Uh huh." He looked more like a doggie troublemaker, and Carter knew from experience that she was right.  
  
O'Neill picked up a sausage, and held it up.  
  
"Jaffer, sit."  
  
Jaffer's black butt was instantly on the floor, and Sam had to admit she was impressed. The sausage was handed over and devoured immediately.  
  
"That's pretty good."  
  
"It gets better." Another sausage was displayed to the waiting dog, who was wagging his tail, idly. Jaffer loved doing tricks. "Speak."  
  
Woof!  
  
Too easy. The sausage vanished, and Jaffer's eyes were grinning as playfully as Jack's were when he turned to look at Sam.  
  
"Wow."  
  
"Oh, there's more." Jack said, smiling. "He knows a lot of tricks, and the guys at the base are teaching him new things every day." Jack held up the juice that Sam was drinking, and displayed it to Jaffer.  
  
"Get me some juice, Jaffer."  
  
"No way."  
  
"Watch."  
  
The dog turned and headed for the kitchen. He walked to the fridge and opened it using the towel that was hanging on the door for just that purpose. Sam watched in amazement as the big black head vanished for a moment, and reappeared with a small plastic bottle of orange juice, which was brought over to O'Neill. Another sausage was handed over.  
  
"That's amazing."  
  
"I know." Jack smiled proudly, and rubbed his dog's ears. "I think the guys are having some kind of contest to see who can teach him the craziest trick and impress me the most. Either that, or they're just bored with the usual stuff."  
  
Of course, they'd been dog-sitting Jaffer since he was two months old – and younger – so it was possible they'd run out of the regular things to teach him, Sam decided.  
  
"We'd better get going, Jack, if we're going to drop your truck off before we have to be at the base." Sam told him, still looking at the orange juice bottle that had been handed over to her. "Are you having trouble with it?"  
  
"Nah," Jack said, standing up and going over to close the refrigerator door – something they hadn't taught his dog yet. "Jaffer chewed up the seatbelts, so I need to get them replaced."  
  
So the doggie genius still hadn't gotten out of the habit of chewing up everything in sight, had he? Sam grinned, and Jack scowled.  
  
"It's not funny, Carter."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
He kissed her, just to make her stop smiling at him, and then called Jaffer and grabbed up his keys.  
  
"You follow us, okay?"  
  
~*~  
  
The man's name was Reggie. If anyone had asked him if he was a drunk, he'd have said no, of course. Sure, he liked to take a nip of whiskey here and there – who didn't? – but he could handle his liquor. A drunk was someone who couldn't. Of course, if someone were to ask Reggie's friends if he was a drunk, there would have been no hesitation. The man had been pulled over and arrested more times for driving intoxicated than the Yankees had won the World Series. He was a first class drunk. And he was just coming home from his latest all night party with his buddies.  
  
Reggie had his radio up fairly loud. He loved listening to Jazz. Loved it more than anything – except maybe drinking – and his car was filled with CDs of all his favorites. He didn't hear the people honking their horns at him when he cut them off as he drove towards his house that morning. He saw a few fingers, but people were rude nowadays, weren't they, and wasn't that just like people to flip off a guy when all he wanted to do was get home and sleep off a hard night? He made a rude gesture of his own here and there, and then he saw the cute brunette walking down the street, and he just had to wave at her, and whistle.  
  
He was still looking at her when he drove through the stoplight. The very red stoplight. And he didn't see the truck until the sound of screeching tires drew his attention from the lovely young woman. The next thing he felt was the impact of his car crashing into the side of the truck, then he heard the scream of the brunette whose attention he'd been so desperately trying to get in the first place. His head snapped forward, and his face hit the steering wheel, and Reggie didn't feel anything else. 


	2. 02

Sam couldn't believe what she'd just seen. One minute she was driving behind Jack, smiling because Jaffer's head was sticking out the passenger window and his big ears were flapping in the breeze, and the next minute a huge Buick had come out of nowhere, ran the stoplight and had slammed into the driver's side of Jack's truck. Carter had slammed on her brakes, and just barely missed hitting the back end of the Buick, which had hit O'Neill's truck so hard that it had pushed it almost fifteen feet straight sideways.  
  
The intersection was in chaos, and Sam had her cell phone in her hand, calling 911 even as she unbuckled her seatbelt and got out of her car. Other cars were stopped, as well. No one could get past the accident scene, anyways, since there were scattered auto parts all over, but that wasn't what had Sam worried. She gave the dispatcher the intersection and number of vehicles involved, then hung up as she headed for Jack's mangled truck, fearing the worst.  
  
The driver's side of Jack's truck was caved in, and there was no way he hadn't been hurt, Sam knew it even as she went to try and see. The side window was shattered and missing, and the windshield had broken and then shattered as well.  
  
"Jack?"  
  
There was no response, and Sam couldn't get to the driver's side of the truck. The Buick was still in the way, the driver of the car slumped over his steering wheel and not moving. Sam left him to the other folks that had converged, instead pushing her way around the truck and going to the passenger door. Her hand on the metal latch, she looked into the window, and gave a worried cry.  
  
Jack had tied the chewed up ends of the seatbelt together and had tried to buckle himself in when he'd left his house. In a head on collision it might have been sturdy enough. As it was, though, the tied ends had given way on contact, and he'd been thrown sideways by the impact. He'd been tossed against Jaffer, who in turn had been crushed against the passenger door, and both dog and owner were bleeding and still. Covered with glass shards and fragments, Sam couldn't see if they were breathing or not, and the damned door wouldn't open when she tugged on it. She could see that Jack had a bloody gash on his head that looked like it might have been caused by having the side window hit him, but she couldn't even guess at what other injuries he might have had.  
  
"Jack!"  
  
He didn't move. Didn't even twitch. Sam could hear sirens in the distance. She reached in the window, and ran her hand carefully along Jaffer's side, since he was the only one she could reach, but the black lab didn't move, either.  
  
"Don't touch him," a man said from behind Carter. "The cops are coming."  
  
She nodded, knowing that she shouldn't do anything, since moving either of them could injure them further, but it was so hard to see them both lying so still, blood trickling onto the tan leather seat in a slow cascade of crimson.  
  
"They're bleeding."  
  
The man nodded, and pulled off the white t-shirt he was wearing and handed it her, and Carter reached through the window once more – this time actually jumping up and leaning through it – and stretched over the seat and pressed it against the gash on the side of Jack's forehead.  
  
"Careful," the man warned her, seeing all the shattered glass.  
  
"The door's stuck."  
  
Then help was there, and Sam felt someone pulling on her to get her out of the window. She turned and saw a police officer tugging on her, and she pushed herself back from Jack reluctantly and allowed the officer to pull her back from the door.  
  
"Do you know who he is?" The officer asked Sam as he tried tugging on the door to open it.  
  
"Colonel Jack O'Neill." Sam answered, reaching out to help him try and open the door. It still wasn't giving way.  
  
"What happened?" Another officer asked both Sam and the man that was now standing there shirtless. A fire truck was pulling up, the sirens wailing and Sam heard a whine from the cab of Jack's truck.  
  
"Jaffer!"  
  
"Who's Jaffer?" The first officer asked. He'd abandoned trying the door and was trying to get through the window. He was hampered by his gun belt and bullet proof vest, though, and wasn't able to get in. "Damn it."  
  
"The dog."  
  
The officer nodded, and tried to open the door again, and was joined by a couple of firemen with a tool that had an axe on one side of the head, and a pry bar on the other.  
  
"Move."  
  
The police officer moved to stand next to Sam, who was watching intently, and the fireman with the pry bar got the hooked end into the seam of the door, and wrenched it open. Jaffer made a squeal of pain that tore at Sam's heart, and she lunged forward without realizing it to try and get to him before they hurt him any more. He was Jack's baby, and it was automatic for Sam to want to help him when Jack himself wasn't able to do it.  
  
"Easy, miss." The police officer grabbed her and held her back as one of the firemen scooped the howling black lab up into gentle arms and carried him away from the truck, leaving the area free for the rest of the firemen – and the now arriving paramedics – to take care of Jack.  
  
Sam was torn between staying and watching them clear Jack from the truck and following the fireman who was holding Jaffer.  
  
The decision was taken away from her. Carter and the shirtless man were both pushed roughly to the side as paramedics and firemen brought in equipment and swarmed around the cab of the truck – and the front end of the Buick that had hit Jack in the first place. She couldn't see anything of what was going on in the truck over all the men and women there, so Sam followed the sound of Jaffer's cries and found the lab being laid out on the hood of the nearest police car by the fireman that had carried him there.  
  
"Is he all right?"  
  
"I'm not a vet, ma'am."  
  
Jaffer looked terrible. The glossy black coat that was just losing the puppy fuzziness was caked with blood, and there were all sorts of scratches that Sam could see. Worse, his front left leg was sticking out at an odd angle that made Sam certain it was broken. A suspicion that was almost immediately confirmed when the fireman reached out and touched it and Jaffer yelped in such misery that the man jerked his hand back.  
  
"He's in bad shape."  
  
Sam wasn't aware she was crying until the man with no shirt handed her his handkerchief and she looked at it in confusion. She wiped her eyes, ashamed. She didn't have time to cry! She had to make some calls. She needed Janet. Jack needed Janet. And she needed Daniel, and Teal'c, and she wanted Jack! God, what if... no! she wouldn't think that.  
  
Her gaze went to the cab of the truck, which was completely covered by firemen and paramedics, now, all of them shouting orders and working furiously to free O'Neill from the mangled remains of his truck. 


	3. 03

She knew her call to Janet didn't make sense, but Fraiser was the first person that Sam called. She was a doctor. More importantly, she was THEIR doctor. When they were hurt, it was always Janet who could – and had – made things better, and that was what Sam automatically was seeking just then. She was so wracked with fear – for Jack, and for Jaffer – that she couldn't really think straight, and when she was confused, Janet was the one who could usually straighten her out.  
  
Fraiser had answered her cell phone expecting the call to be from Cassie, who usually called her about this time of the morning to let her know that she had managed to drag herself out of bed and yes, she was getting ready to start her day and yes, she'd eaten breakfast, and no, she wasn't going to miss the school bus. When she heard Sam's frantic voice on the line, she'd actually had to ask Sam to hand the phone over to someone else, because she couldn't understand anything more than that there'd been an accident, and she could hear anything over the painful cries of what had to be Jaffer, since they didn't sound quite human.  
  
Sam had given the phone to the firefighter, and had leaned against the hood of the police car while the man talked to Fraiser, telling her where they were, and giving her what little information he could. Carter reached out with careful fingers and caressed Jaffer's head, tenderly, trying to soothe the black lab, who was obviously in agony.  
  
"Isn't there anything we can give him?" She asked, as Jaffer's cries of pain turned to whines for a moment when she touched him. The black lab moved his head and tried to lick her fingers, but he couldn't be distracted from his pain for too long, and the whines began to increase once more into higher volumes.  
  
A paramedic who had come from the driver's side of the Buick heard her, and took pity on the dog. The woman wasn't a veterinarian – no more than the fireman was – but she knew morphine and she had a supply of it. There was always a chance she'd kill the dog if she accidentally gave him too much, but she didn't think he looked like he was going to live, anyways, and it would be more humane if he didn't hurt.  
  
She put her medical case on the hood of the car close to Jaffer's beautiful black head, and Sam watched as she opened it up again and pulled out a syringe that she filled with a little vial.  
  
"Don't let him bite me," She said as she reached for Jaffer.  
  
"He won't bite," Sam said. She would have touched Jaffer to keep him from moving, but she thought that would only hurt him more, so she didn't. The paramedic nodded, and gave the dog the shot, which took affect almost immediately. Jaffer's cries of pain turned into soft whimpers, and then faded even more. Now Sam could hear the fireman telling Fraiser where they were, and she knew the doctor was coming to them.  
  
"I'm sorry I can't do more." The paramedic said, as the fireman handed her back her cell phone.  
  
"Your friend is coming down."  
  
Sam nodded, and closed it up and put it in her pocket, knowing that Janet would make all the other calls Sam should be making. Then she addressed the paramedic, who was stroking Jaffer's glossy neck, trying to calm the dog further, now that being touched wasn't so painful.  
  
"You've done more than I could have. Thank you."  
  
"More than we could do for the driver of the car." She said, looking over where the Buick was being covered in a couple of large sheets to keep the gawkers that were standing around from seeing the driver. There was only one paramedic there, compared to the half-dozen that were working on Jack's truck, which was a sure sign that the man was dead.  
  
"He came out of nowhere." Sam said, softly, feeling a sudden chill, even though the day was looking to be a bright and sunny one, and it was hardly cold.  
  
"He reeks of alcohol." As if that explained everything. And really, it did. Sam lowered her face to Jaffer, pressing her cheek against his muzzle, and looking over to Jack's truck once more, wishing she knew what was happening with him, but knowing she wasn't going to get to find out until the firemen and paramedics knew more themselves.  
  
~*~  
  
"Daniel! Come with me!" Fraiser was running out of her infirmary as if she'd been shot out of a cannon, and she'd almost run over Jackson, who was looking for Sam.  
  
"What? Why?" He was following her without understanding why, reacting to the urgency in her voice, and to the fact that she very rarely looked so flustered. She was looking very concerned just then, and was obviously in a hurry.  
  
"There's been an accident. Jack's hurt."  
  
The two of them were drawing a lot of attention as they ran towards the elevator, but neither noticed.  
  
"How do you know?" Daniel asked, as they waited for the elevator to come down for them.  
  
"Sam just called me. Someone just T-boned Colonel O'Neill's truck."  
  
"Is he okay?"  
  
"I don't know." The elevator door opened, and Fraiser and Daniel both got on and Fraiser hit the right floor number. "Sam was so upset I ended up talking to a fireman."  
  
"Is she hurt?"  
  
"She wasn't in the truck with him, she was following him."  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"To the accident scene. Sam's panicked, and Jaffer's hurt, and Colonel O'Neill is out. We can't leave her alone to deal with that."  
  
"No, of course not." 


	4. 04

Fraiser sped outrageously, and they reached the accident scene only about fifteen minutes after Sam's frantic call. There was no doubt as to the seriousness of the situation; Daniel saw the moment they pulled up. Jack's mangled truck was the center of attention, with firemen and paramedics and police officers all over it like a swarm of angry bees. There was a large sedan covered in some kind of sheets, and a huge crowd of people watching on as the firemen brought in some kind of device Daniel had never seen before. The scene was so unreal that Daniel couldn't help but just stare as well.  
  
"There she is," Fraiser said, pointing. Fraiser was a bit less awed by the scene. She was more used to this kind of violence than Daniel was – and probably more so than Sam and Jack, as well. It was part of being a doctor, after all, to be able to keep a cool head when the others around you were bleeding and battered. In this, she was just as experienced as Jack O'Neill was when it came to people shooting at him.  
  
Daniel followed her gaze to a police cruiser that was parked fairly close by, but which was surrounded by the police officers and firemen and paramedics that weren't able to fit onto Jack's truck. They hurried over, and Daniel groaned in dismay when he saw Jaffer lying on the hood of the vehicle, with Sam leaning over it, her cheek pressed against the black lab's muzzle, although he wasn't certain if she was comforting him, or using him to comfort herself.  
  
"Sam!"  
  
Carter's head came up, and Fraiser and Daniel both came through the crowd to stand next to her. Janet took hold of Sam's chin and forced her to look into her eyes. Carter's face was an unhealthy pale color, streaked with tears, and she looked close to going into shock, even though she, herself, hadn't been injured. Obviously some fireman had noticed this, because she had one of the heavy firefighting jackets draped over her shoulders in an effort to keep her warm, and there were several people who must have felt protective of her, since they stepped forward at Fraiser and Daniel's approach.  
  
"Sam?"  
  
"He's pinned in the truck," Carter said, wiping her eyes and pulling away from Janet's touch. "I don't know what to do, Janet! He's stuck, and Jaffer's hurt... and..." She trailed off, bawling like a child, and Daniel took her in his arms while Fraiser leaned over the hood and took a look at Jaffer with a doctor's eye. She wasn't a vet, of course, but she knew shock when she saw it, even in a dog, and Sam was definitely right. Jaffer was awake, but his brown eyes – usually so lively and alert – were glazed over and unfocused. The bleeding was obviously part of the reason for this, although the paramedics had done what they could to put bandages on him and stop it. She could tell the front leg was broken by the odd way it stood out, and she had no idea what was going on internally, but she knew Jaffer needed to get to a vet, and now.  
  
"Daniel! Take Sam and Jaffer and get him to the vet, now."  
  
Sam pulled her face from where it was buried against Daniel's shirt and shook her head.  
  
"I can't leave, Janet. I have to stay-"  
  
"Jaffer needs you, Sam. You know that he won't obey anyone but Colonel O'Neill most of the time, and the only exception to that is that he'll obey you." Sometimes. "He needs to get to help, and I can't help him." Besides, Sam needed to be somewhere else when they managed to pull Jack out of his truck, Fraiser knew from experience as a trauma doctor.  
  
"You're a doctor."  
  
"And dogs are different than people."  
  
Fraiser handed Daniel her keys, and snapped orders to the paramedics and firemen around her like someone who was used to giving orders in the midst of chaos. So naturally, in fact, that the people rushed to obey them, even though they didn't have a clue who she was.  
  
A short backboard was produced from one of the ambulances, and two of the firemen carefully put Jaffer on it and loaded the unresisting lab into the back of Janet's station wagon, while she watched to make sure they didn't jar him. Obviously someone had given him a painkiller – which was a kindness as far as Fraiser was concerned – but just because it didn't hurt him just then, it didn't mean that jostling the injured dog wouldn't damage him further. And he couldn't afford more injuries.  
  
"Come on, Sam," Daniel said, encouragingly, as he led her to the passenger seat of the wagon. He handed a fireman the jacket she'd been covered with, and saw her uniform was partially smeared with blood. Most likely Jaffer's, Daniel decided. "We'll take him to his vet, and Janet can stay and make sure that they take good care of Jack. You know she will."  
  
Yes, Sam did know. And she couldn't say no, anyways. She was so numb that she couldn't have argued with anyone just then.  
  
"You'll call?" She asked, looking at Janet through the passenger window.  
  
"Yes, the moment they get him out, and then I'll make sure you know where to find us."  
  
There was a whimper from the rear of the wagon. Jaffer didn't hurt – probably – but he didn't like where he was, either.  
  
Sam nodded, and Daniel reached over and buckled her seatbelt for her, then started the car and pulled away from the curb, carefully making his way through the crowds of people and vehicles. Janet watched them go until they were out of sight, then turned and went towards Jack's truck to see what she could do to help, or at least find out the severity of his injuries.  
  
~*~  
  
The receptionist heard the commotion outside before she actually saw it. Loud cries of some poor injured animal were coming through the open door before a man' back came through it. A man wearing a military uniform who was holding a paramedic's backboard that contained a very familiar black lab. The other end of the board came in sight, and it wasn't Colonel O'Neill holding it. It was a young blonde woman the receptionist hadn't seen before. She knew Daniel Jackson – he'd been in a couple times with Jaffer and Colonel O'Neill for various injuries attained by the awkward little lab, but the woman wasn't familiar.  
  
Jaffer was a mangled. Bleeding mess, though, and that was all that mattered to the receptionist. She called for the doctor, and came around, to take immediate control of the situation, and assess the dog's injuries.  
  
"Oh, God, what happened to him?" She asked. She'd seen Jaffer a number of times, for all sorts of injuries and accidents, but this was by far the most serious. The lab was really hurt, and it showed.  
  
"Car accident." Daniel said as Monica Ray came around the counter just then, as well.  
  
"Jaffer?" She knew that big black head anywhere. Hadn't he been her most frequent patient for the last 3 months of his life? The black tail thumped feebly when the dog saw his vet, and he whined, softly. "Bring him in the back," She ordered. She didn't need to know what happened. She had a job to do, then she cold find out. 


	5. 05

They'd brought in the Jaws of Life machine. It was a hydraulic machine that was used to cut through any metal and move it away from the delicate flesh that was pinned by it, and so precise that it could do it without causing more injury than was already present. Fraiser watched from the side of the truck as the firemen placed the machine where it was going to do the most good – hopefully – and then heard a yelp right before they'd turned it on. A very familiar yelp. Then a curse, and then another yelp.  
  
Jack was conscious. More or less.  
  
"Sam!"  
  
The firefighters suddenly found themselves battling a very out of it Colonel who wasn't sure what was going on around him, couldn't figure out why all these people were gathered around him, and who hurt pretty much everywhere, which only added to his confusion.  
  
"Mr. O'Neill!" One of the firemen grabbed his arm to keep him still, but in his confused, pain-shocked state, it seemed like an attack to jack, and he jerked his arm away, which put pressure on his injured and pinned legs, and he cried out in pain and anger.  
  
"Sam!"  
  
"Colonel!" Fraiser lunged forward, knowing Jack was only going to hurt himself worse if he continued struggling, and knowing that he'd struggle until he knew where he was or at least knew that he was with friends. She was immediately grabbed by one of the firemen, and she struggled against him, fighting to get free.  
  
"Let me go! I know him, and can calm him down!"  
  
Someone had to. The firemen weren't having any luck controlling him, and they were actually taking injuries of their own as Jack managed to land a couple blows. This wasn't going well.  
  
"Someone sedate him!"  
  
"We can't sedate him until we stabilize him enough to know where he hurts," someone else called. They needed the input from Jack to tell them what was wrong, since he was awake.  
  
"Let me go!" Fraiser heard O'Neill swear once more, and then heard another yelp of pain as the Colonel's movements once more made the hurts he was already feeling even worse. Which only added more fuel to the proverbial fire.  
  
The fireman released her, and Janet jumped into the fray, landing on top of the struggling mass of men – firemen, paramedics, and one lone Air Force Colonel.  
  
"Jack! Stop!"  
  
O'Neill stopped immediately, hearing finally a voice he knew, and one who didn't call him Mr. O'Neill, which was a sure sign they didn't know him.  
  
"Doc?" he slumped back to the seat, groaning as pain overcame adrenaline, and his aching head threatened to overwhelm his lack of good sense.  
  
"Colonel, you need to hold still so we can get you loose. Do you understand?"  
  
"Where's Sam?"  
  
"She's with Daniel." Jack didn't hear that, though. He'd brought his head up again, whacking it on the helmet of one of the firefighters, which caused the bleeding gash to spurt blood once more.  
  
"Jaffer!" He looked around, pain making his vision dim, but he didn't care, and he started struggling, trying to get himself free so he could find his puppy. Jaffer was with him, and if he was hurt, then Jaffer had to be hurt as well. "Let me go, God damn it!"  
  
Of course, they couldn't let him go. Not only was he hurting himself by struggling, but the truck itself was wrapped around most of his lower half, and that had a much firmer grip on him than any of the firemen.  
  
"Colonel!" Fraiser reached over and grabbed Jack's ear, which was the only part of his head that wasn't bleeding, and the only part she could grab to get his attention. Jack stopped struggling and looked at her, and Fraiser could see he wasn't completely lucid. His eyes weren't focusing properly, and all she could see was pain and fear. "He's hurt, but he's alive! You need to hold still, God damn it, and I mean it!" Two could play the swearing game, and Fraiser was as good as any soldier when it came to it.  
  
Jack tried to focus on her, which only hurt more, but the tenseness in his body was slightly lessened, and Janet could feel it.  
  
"He's okay?"  
  
"Sam's with him. They're on the way to the vet."  
  
"I have to see him..." He tensed again, and Fraiser shook her head, keeping her tight hold on his ear before he could start struggling.  
  
"You need to stay still. We're trying to get you out of here, and you're not helping. Now do what I tell you."  
  
He nodded, slightly, and she let go of his ear, and he let his head drop back to the seat, all struggle gone out of him and the pain definitely gaining the upper ground, now.  
  
"Colonel, we're going to try and cut the metal that's holding you pinned," one of the firemen told him, relieved that the man was finally still. They did NOT want to use the Jaws of Life until their injured man was holding still.  
  
"What?" Jack turned his head, and winced. "Don't ruin my truck..."  
  
His truck was already ruined.  
  
"Hold still, Sir."  
  
Fraiser stayed right beside Jack, practically sprawled on the firemen who were helping to hold O'Neill's legs still. They didn't mind. He was a lot more under control with the woman near at hand, and they'd already discovered that Jack O'Neill wasn't fun to brawl with.  
  
Jack closed his eyes, feeling a release of pressure on one of his legs. Suddenly, though, he felt a searing pain running along his thigh, and his opened snapped open and he tried to sit up – the motion stopped by the sudden weight of a lot of people scrambling frantically around on him.  
  
"Shit! He's bleeding like a-"  
  
"Grab that!"  
  
"Get me something to-"  
  
Jack felt the energy drain out of him, and he closed his eyes as his head went back to rest on the bloody leather seat once more. He didn't hear anything else, not even when Fraiser tried to bully him into opening his eyes once more and told him he had to stay with her. He didn't want to stay with her. He couldn't have even if he did. The pain faded as everything went black. 


	6. 06

Janet Frasier wasn't the only one having problems with her patient at that moment. Dr. Monica Ray had known Jaffer since he was very young, and the black lab knew her fairly well, and knew that she'd never hurt him. But the morphine shot he'd been given was wearing off, and he was feeling a lot of pain, and he was at the vet's office for the first time in his life without Jack.  
  
Jaffer struggled against Ray's touch, whining and fighting her with every motion. He never threatened to bite – he had never been a biter and never would be, simply by nature – but he was hurting himself in his struggles, and Ray finally had to put the dog out in order to get a look at what she was dealing with.  
  
Sam had panicked when she saw the veterinarian give the dog the shot, fearing she'd decided to put him down. Which seemed confirmed when Jaffer suddenly went limp, his eyes still partially open, his tongue hanging out where Ray had put it to keep him from choking on it while he was under sedation.  
  
"What-"  
  
"Relax," Monica told Sam, understanding immediately. "It's just a sedative so I can work on him."  
  
Agile hands stroked the dog's sides, caressing him, but actually checking for bumps and swelling that would tell her of any broken bones, since she couldn't use Jaffer's reactions to judge by. She knew his leg was broken, but that was probably the least of his injuries.  
  
"I'm going to do x-rays and an ultrasound to look for internal injuries. Where's Jack?" She needed his permission to perform such actions.  
  
"He's still at the accident scene," Daniel said, speaking up before Sam could. "Do whatever you need to, Jack would approve of it."  
  
Of course he would. Jack brought Jaffer in if the puppy so much as sneezed funny, and everyone in the room – including the vet-tech – knew it. Ray nodded, and gestured for her assistants to take the lab and get him ready for his tests.  
  
"You'll have to wait out in the waiting room," She told them.  
  
"But I have to be able to tell-"  
  
Daniel put his arm around Sam and nodded as he guided her out of the room. "We'll just be in the way, Sam."  
  
"I can't leave him alone, Daniel-"  
  
She was interrupted by her cell phone, and she fumbled through her purse and grabbed it.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Sam, it's Janet." Fraiser sounded tense, and Sam bit her lip, expecting the worst immediately.  
  
"How is he?"  
  
"We're in route to Cheyenne Mountain right now." They had to take Jack there, since they were going to have to sedate him and it was either sedate him in the classified base, or put a guard on him to make sure no one tried to talk to him when he wasn't in any shape to know what he was saying. It was easier all around for them to take him to the base – which wasn't that far away – and was already secured. Besides, there was no doubt that Janet needed to be in charge of O'Neill's case, and at a regular hospital there would be doctors whose pride or arrogance would make them hesitate to turn their emergency room over to her, and Janet didn't have time for that kind of crap.  
  
"How is he?" Sam repeated.  
  
"He's lost a lot of blood, Sam." Janet told her, honestly. "A piece of metal from his truck was stuck through his leg, and they didn't know it until the cut it off."  
  
"Will he be all right?"  
  
Fraiser hesitated, and Sam heard it. Janet never lied to her – or anyone – and she wasn't going to make a promise she couldn't keep.  
  
"I'm going to do all I can. How's Jaffer?"  
  
"They're doing tests, now, but he was struggling and making it hard for them, so they sedated him."  
  
Fraiser could sympathize.  
  
"We're almost to the base. I'll call again when I know more."  
  
"Janet..." Sam hesitated, now, and wasn't sure what to say, or how to say it. She felt tears stinging her eyes once more, and brushed them away impatiently. "I..."  
  
"I'll tell him, Sam. As soon as I get him to wake up for me." The phone went dead, and Carter looked over at Daniel, her blue eyes watery and terrified. He gathered her in his arms, knowing that was what she needed more than anything, and Carter broke down and cried.  
  
The other people waiting in the waiting room all looked on in shared sympathy as they watched Daniel take Sam over to the chairs and hold her while she sobbed. They'd all seen the bloody looking dog that she'd brought in and had assumed the worst had happened.  
  
~*~  
  
The ambulance was waved directly through the Main Gate, and right into the mountain itself. The paramedic driving it came to a halt when a Marine Corporal stepped in front of it and put his arms up, directing her to park it over to the side, where one of Fraiser's own medical teams were standing by with a gurney and equipment they'd need to stabilize Jack on the way down to the infirmary. Along with a few pints of blood to replace what he was losing.  
  
Inside the ambulance, Janet was still struggling to stop the bleeding from Jack's leg. How the jagged piece of metal had missed the main artery was a mystery, but it was also a blessing. Jack O'Neill never would have made it out of his truck alive if that had happened. As it was, she was still pressing hard on the bandages that were against the wound – both on the front and on the back of Jack's leg – and still it was bleeding slowly.  
  
"We're there," The paramedic told her from the front. Janet looked up and out the front windshield, resting her knee on Jack's upper thigh to hold the bandage in place, and saw that Teal'c and Hammond were both standing next to the medics who were waiting for their patient.  
  
"Let's get him out of here, then." She had to get some staples in this wound, and get the bleeding under control. Fraiser looked down at the Colonel's very pale face. "Help me out here, Jack," she murmured, leaning over and speaking into the ear she'd grabbed earlier. "You've got to fight, because I'm not going to be the one to tell Sam that some drunk took away all that matters to her."  
  
He didn't answer, but Fraiser had to hope that he was listening. 


	7. 07

Monica Ray sent them home just a few minutes after Jaffer came out of surgery. The vet was exhausted, and she didn't want anyone hovering around her waiting room for no reason. And there wasn't any reason for Samantha Carter and Daniel Jackson to be there.  
  
"He's not out of the woods, but I've managed to put everything back together that was torn apart, and we'll just have to wait and see if he can recover." There was a good chance of it, of course. Jaffer was young and, thanks to Jack's over protectiveness, he was in better shape than pretty much any dog in the world. If a dog could recover from those kinds of nasty injuries, it would be a young healthy one like Jaffer.  
  
Sam left her cell phone number, and Daniel's, and the number to her office, and the number to Jack's office – although she doubted she'd be there, but you never knew – and then gave the Vet her home phone number, just in case. Monica took them all, understanding completely what she was going through – Sam Carter wasn't the first worried dog owner the veterinarian had seen, after all – and then walked Carter and Daniel out to Fraiser's car.  
  
"I'll call you the moment anything happens," She promised them both. They'd have a constant watch on the young lab the rest of the day and that evening. By the next morning he should be responding – or they'd know he wasn't going to and could call in Jack to discuss what the next step would be. Assuming Jack O'Neill was in any condition to discuss anything.  
  
Sam nodded, and Daniel thanked Dr. Ray, and pulled the wagon out of the parking lot, and into traffic.  
  
"I'm hungry, Sam," He said to her. He knew she was anxious to get to the base and check and see how Jack was doing – they hadn't heard anything from Janet all day – but it was well into the afternoon, and Daniel hadn't eaten, and he knew Carter hadn't either.  
  
"Stop somewhere." She wasn't going to eat, but it wasn't fair to keep Daniel from eating. Sam's stomach was one big tangled knot, and she was certain she couldn't hold anything down, and didn't dare try. She looked over at her friend, and reached out and put her hand on his knee.  
  
"Thank you, Daniel."  
  
He looked over at her, surprised, then looked back at the road so he didn't crash them into something.  
  
"For what, Sam?"  
  
"For staying with me."  
  
Daniel smiled. A small, almost sad smile, and he put his hand over hers on his knee, not for the first time thinking that Jack was a very lucky guy.  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
~*~  
  
Janet Fraiser leaned over her patient, one hand opening his eyelids, while the other held a penlight, which she shined into his eyes to check his pupils. They weren't responding as well as she might have wished, but there was far more reaction than there had been before, and it was a hopeful sign.  
  
"How is he, Doctor?"  
  
She turned and saw Hammond standing at the doorway, and shrugged.  
  
"I've stitched him back together, Sir, but he's lost a lot of blood, and the head wound is a pretty nasty one. Any lower and he would probably have been killed instantly. His shoulder was dislocated, but it went back into the socket with very little trouble, and he's got horrific bruising on his entire left side." Where the Buick had slammed into his truck. "The worst is the leg injury, though, and I might need to put him under the knife again, and re-stitch it if the sutures don't hold, or if it swells too much and pulls them out."  
  
"Will he recover?"  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Yes, Sir. But he's going to have a nasty headache, and he can't move for a while. I don't want to risk that leg coming open."  
  
Hammond nodded, and looked like he wanted to keep asking questions, but he didn't. For one thing, he knew Jack was going to be all right, and that was really good enough news for him. For another, Janet Fraiser looked exhausted, and Hammond didn't want to bother her any more than necessary.  
  
"Go take a break, Doctor, if you can." He ordered. "Good job."  
  
"Thank you, Sir. I'm going to call Sam and tell her he's out of surgery, then I'll go get something to eat."  
  
She pulled her cell phone out of her white lab coat, and walked out into the hallway. Teal'c was standing there, along with Cassie. The big Jaffa had volunteered to go get Fraiser's daughter from school, so she wouldn't be stuck in the house alone. Originally Janet had planned to have the afternoon off to work with Cassie on a school project, but that wasn't going to happen, now.  
  
She dialed Sam's number, and was surprised to hear the phone ringing. Not the other end of the line ringing, but the actual ring of Carter's phone. She looked up and saw Sam and Daniel both walk around the corner, Daniel holding bags of take out food, and Sam reaching for her ringing cell.  
  
"Don't bother," Janet said, hanging up. "That was me."  
  
"How is he?"  
  
"I just got out of surgery. He's asleep, and I don't know for how long. He's lost a lot of blood and he's really pale, and I don't want you to stay in there too long, understand?"  
  
"I just want to see him..."  
  
"I know, Sam." She gestured to the door of the infirmary. "I'm going to have him transferred to a room, with a more comfortable bed, and a bit more privacy, because he's going to be here for a while."  
  
"How's Jaffer?" Cassandra asked.  
  
"He just got out of surgery, too. Broken leg, a lot of cuts and bruises, and a few cracked ribs. The vet said she'd call if there was any change."  
  
"Will he be all right?" Janet asked. If something happened and Jaffer didn't recover, it was going to affect Jack's own recovery, certainly. Everyone knew how he felt about his half-grown puppy.  
  
"I think so. She made it sound like he had a good chance of being okay, since he's young and healthy." Sam turned her head to the door of the infirmary. She didn't want to talk anymore. She wanted to see Jack. Fraiser understood, and stopped her questioning.  
  
"Only a few minutes, Sam. He needs to be left alone."  
  
"Then you can come eat with us," Daniel said, holding up the bag of food. "By the time dinner's done, he might be better able to chat."  
  
Sam nodded her agreement to both of them, and went silently through the door of the infirmary. 


	8. 08

He wasn't awake. Sam knew he wouldn't be, but she'd half-hoped that Janet would be wrong and he'd have been sitting up in bed waiting for her, grinning that cocky grin of his and able to wrap her up in his strong arms and tell her that he was okay, and she was okay, and everything was going to be okay. Instead, he was flat on his back, covered with a warm blanket, and attached to what looked to be a million machines that were beeping, or humming, or just making machine noises.  
  
Sam walked over and looked down at him. The side of his head was covered in a large bandage, and she knew that it covered the nasty gash she'd seen right after the accident had happened. His left cheek was bruised, as well, and it looked even worse because his face was paler than she'd ever seen it. Carter bit her lip. He looked awful. She couldn't even imagine how bad it looked under the blankets, and she didn't raise them to look.  
  
"Jack..." She whispered, softly. Not trying to wake him up, just needing to say his name. She reached out and touched his hand, which was covered in a bandage as well, and had an IV tube coming out from under it. It was warm, and rough, and she stifled a sob that tried to escape. "I love you."  
  
She wanted to stay, but knew that she couldn't. He needed rest. Needed to be allowed to sleep without her hovering over him, worrying. She could worry just as easily somewhere else.  
  
"I'll be back, okay?"  
  
She leaned over and pressed a very gentle butterfly kiss against his forehead, and turned and walked out of the door, almost slamming into it when the tears that were flowing freely now blinded her.  
  
~*~  
  
They were all waiting for her when she came out of the room, and no one was surprised to see she was crying. Daniel handed the bags of food over to Cassie, and took her in his arms and held her tightly. He had held her all day, as they'd worried over Jaffer and Jack both, and Sam melted against him once more, sobbing.  
  
"He's going to be okay, Sam," Janet said, putting her hand on the Major's back and rubbing it.  
  
"I know!" She cried. "He looks awful, though. I keep seeing that car come out of nowhere and I keep seeing him lying on that seat, bleeding and so still that I was afraid-"  
  
"He's here, and he's fine," Janet repeated, wrapping her arms around Sam from behind, while Daniel held her from the front. A big group hug, that enveloped Carter in all the warmth and reassurance that the two could give her.  
  
"He'll be okay, Sam," Cassie said, softly. "Jack's tough."  
  
"I know." She sniffled, trying to get herself under control. Cassie didn't need to watch Sam bawl all night, after all, and Daniel was probably going to have to throw his shirt away, she'd cried on it so much already. She pulled away from the two of them and walked over to Cassie, who was holding the bag of food, trying to keep her voice light.  
  
"Why don't we go eat? That chicken smells good." It didn't smell good. It smelled like it would be a huge ball of heavy weight sitting in the pit of her stomach, but the smile on Cassie's face was worth the lie, and the girl took Sam's hand and led her to the lounge, just off the side of the infirmary. There was a table there, and plenty of room for all of them to eat their dinner.  
  
~*~  
  
Dr. Ray looked in on Jaffer from time to time during the course of the rest of her day. She was ready to go home, and she knew he was in capable hands with the veterinarian that was on call at night – in case of emergencies – but she hated leaving him in such a condition. She went to the large cage that he was being kept in – a wire cage that was covered with a thick blanket to muffle any outside noise in. The black lab was sleeping on a fluffy blanket, an IV tube feeding fluids and antibiotics into his system as he recovered from the surgery done on him. His leg had been set, and his sides had been wrapped tightly enough to protect his ribs, and still loosely enough that he could breathe without difficulty.  
  
Monica sat on the floor and opened the cage door, and saw that Jaffer's eyes were opened. The black tail moved slightly – an effort to wag a hello – but the eyes were still glazed over, and aside form the tail, he didn't move. Which, for Jaffer, was a sure sign he was not well.  
  
"Hi, little man," she whispered, using the nickname Jack used for his puppy. She ran her hand along his jowls, and smiled slightly when he tried to listlessly lick her fingers. He was such a friendly dog, even for a lab. She bent over and kissed his nose, despite the tube that was running into it, feeding him extra oxygen.  
  
"Jack has to be going out of his mind with worry about you." She whispered. "Or is it the other way around? Are you worried about him?"  
  
Jaffer whined, uncertainly, and Monica stroked his soft ears lovingly.  
  
"Don't worry, Jaffer." She crooned, using her best Vet Voice. "You're in the best of hands, and I'll get you back together with him as soon as I can."  
  
She checked his tubes to make sure nothing was blocked and that everything was draining properly, then gave him a final gentle pat and closed the door and stood up, wiping her hands. Then she went to the telephone, pulling out the list of numbers Major Carter had given her before she'd left.  
  
~*~  
  
The phone rang just as they were finishing up their meal, and Carter grabbed for it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hello? Is this Samantha Carter?"  
  
"Yes. Doctor Ray?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How is he?"  
  
"He's awake, but not very lucid, I'm afraid." Before Sam could worry about that, the doctor was quick to reassure. "It's common, though. He's been given a lot of sedatives and antibiotic, and he's been through a lot. If he's still looking out of it tomorrow, then we'll worry."  
  
"Should I come see him?"  
  
"No. He's fine, and the office is closing for the night. I'll have someone with him all night, though, checking on him, so don't worry. I just wanted to let you know he was awake."  
  
"Thank you, Doctor."  
  
"Call me in the morning, and I'll let you know more."  
  
"I will."  
  
Ray hung up, and Sam put her phone away as well. The others were all watching her, and she gave them a half-smile.  
  
"That was the vet. Jaffer's awake."  
  
"How is he?" Cassie asked.  
  
"She says he's a bit out of it from the medicines she's given him, but she expects him to be more himself in the morning."  
  
"Are you going to go se him?" The girl asked. "Can I come?"  
  
Sam shook her head at the same time Fraiser did.  
  
"You need to get your homework done, and get to bed."  
  
"Mom..."  
  
"The vet's office is closing, Cassandra. I can't go see him. Maybe tomorrow, though." Sam said.  
  
Cassie looked at Janet, who shrugged. "Maybe."  
  
"What are your intentions for this evening?" Teal'c asked Fraiser. The doctor knew what he meant, immediately.  
  
"I'm going to take Cassie home and leave Jack to get the rest he needs." She had a very good staff, and she knew that he was out of danger. If he weren't, she never would have considered leaving him. Sam knew this as well, and took that as a good sign, s Janet had known she would.  
  
"Can I stay with him?" Carter asked.  
  
Janet hesitated, but shook her head.  
  
"No. I want you to go home – better yet, Daniel, Teal'c, you two take her home and stay with her tonight if you can. I want you to take a hot bath – with bubbles – and get a good night's sleep. You've had a rough day, and I don't want it to catch up to you."  
  
"We can do that, Janet," Daniel assured her. Teal'c nodded, as well. Sam, however, wasn't so quick to agree.  
  
"But I want-"  
  
Janet held up her hand to stop the protest. "Sam, he's going to be fine. He's lost a lot of blood, though, and if he wakes up, I can't have you around upsetting him or getting him worked up. I'm sorry, but he needs this night to himself. If you don't want Daniel and Teal'c staying with you, you can come home with us, but I want you off this base before 2000 hours."  
  
"But that's only a few-"  
  
"I know."  
  
"Janet-"  
  
"Sam." She was in doctor mode, now, and Carter knew she was beaten. Not even Jack was very good at getting his way when Janet went into Doctor mode, and the Colonel was far more adept at it than Sam was. She sighed, and nodded.  
  
"I'll go home with Daniel and Teal'c." At least she'd be in her own bed. Even if Jack wasn't in it with her.  
  
"Good. Don't forget; bubbles." 


	9. 09

O'Neill didn't wake up that night. Fraiser's staff checked on him frequently, and the doctor herself called every few hours to see what kind of progress had been made – although she'd never let Sam know – but nothing changed over night, which troubled Janet a little. Of course, Jack had been badly hurt, and was still reeling from blood loss and shock, but he should have at least opened his eyes, Fraiser knew, even if it was only for a few minutes.  
  
Of course, it was possible that he'd woken and went right back to sleep before anyone had noticed, but that was unlikely. Jack O'Neill was a fairly bad patient, and he would have made sure her staff knew that he was awake and wanted to be released. He would have asked someone for Sam, Fraiser knew, and that hadn't happened. Which caused her to leave her house quite a bit earlier than she normally did the next morning so she could get in and check on him.  
  
Jaffer woke around midnight that evening, and for the first time in his life, the young lab was alone and caged. Both of which were bad, as far as he was concerned. Add to that the fact that he was feeling a bit of pain – nothing serious, but more than he was used to – and he wasn't happy. And Jaffer had never been one to hide his feelings. He started howling at 12:02, and didn't stop all night. Even when the veterinarian staff tried to calm him with petting, and food, and by covering the cage completely with the blanket, he still howled. He didn't want food, he didn't want petted, and he didn't want to be in the dark all alone. He wanted his Jack, and he wanted him now.  
  
When Monica Ray walked into her animal clinic the next morning, the first thing she heard was the howls, and she knew immediately who they were coming from. She went into the recovery room, and took the blanket off the cage that held the black lab, and saw that he was sitting up, his eyes alert and clear, obviously feeling better physically, but very much unhappy to be where he was, and making sure that someone knew it.  
  
"How long has this been going on?" She asked the vet-tech.  
  
"All night. Since about midnight." He looked like he'd spent the night listening to the mournful howling, too. His eyes were bleary, and he looked a little jittery. "He won't stop. I've tried everything short of sedating him."  
  
"We don't want to sedate him," She said, quickly.  
  
"I know." The man sighed. "He won't eat anything, he won't drink anything, and he won't stop howling."  
  
Monica sat on the floor next to the opening of Jaffer's cage, and the black lab stopped his howling to watch her and see what she was up to. She opened his cage and he tried to bolt for the door, but she was expecting it, and she blocked the way expertly.  
  
"No, Jaffer." She put her hand on his chest, right below his neck where none of the injured ribs were, so she wouldn't hurt him by touching him there. "You can't get out, yet, little man," She told him. "Let me check you okay?"  
  
He ignored her and tried to shoulder past her, but she was good at her job, and knew how to keep a restless dog from getting his way. Even one as used to getting his way as Jaffer was. Holding him with one hand, she used the other to check his heart, his lungs and abdomen. Everything sounded good, and she decided that he was going to be fine.  
  
He obviously didn't feel that way, because the minute the vet closed the door of the cage, and Jaffer realized he was still on the wrong side of the door, he set to howling again, and this time it was even louder than it had been the night before. Much to the chagrin of the veterinarian staff, who were going to have to listen to it.  
  
"Maybe we can let him out for a while?" One asked.  
  
"Not a chance." Ray knew just how hard it was to control Jaffer, and since she didn't have Colonel O'Neill here to do it for her, she wasn't going to risk it. The howls would stop, eventually, when Jaffer realized they weren't going to help. "I need to make a couple calls."  
  
Sam had spent the night sleeping on her sofa. She hadn't planned on sleeping there, but after getting out of the tub – and the bath had felt good, she had to admit – she dressed in a pair of warm lounge pants and a sweatshirt and had went out to her living room to be with Daniel and Teal'c. She didn't feel sleepy, which meant she wasn't ready to go to bed and lay there staring at the ceiling. Instead, she'd went to the living room where Daniel and Teal'c were sitting on the couch waiting for her.  
  
She'd plopped down between the two of them and they'd spent the evening talking about nothing, and then watching TV. Daniel had dozed off – his day had been as long and troubling as Sam's had, after all – and Carter had about decided that she should get to bed, when she'd dozed off as well. With her head resting lightly on Teal'c's muscular leg, the Jaffa was pretty much stuck where he was as well, since he'd rather have chopped his leg off than disturb her sleep after such a hard day. So he watched old movies on TV while the other two slept.  
  
The phone ringing woke her up, and Sam opened her eyes with a start, wondering where she was. She recognized her living room immediately – once she opened her eyes and actually looked around – and grimaced when she realized that the three of them had slept on the couch together. Some hostess she was, making her guests put up with such uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. She would have apologized, but the phone was still ringing insistently, and Sam grabbed it, hoping it wouldn't wake up Daniel, who was curled in a ball at the other end of the couch.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
She immediately heard howling in the background.  
  
"Major Carter?"  
  
"Doctor Ray?"  
  
The howling continued in the background.  
  
"Yes. I'm sorry to call you so early..."  
  
"It's fine. How's Jaffer doing?"  
  
She could barely hear anything over the howling.  
  
"He's awake. In case you can't hear him." Even the howling couldn't drown out the exasperation in her voice.  
  
"That's him making all that noise?" That had to be a good sign. "Is he okay?"  
  
"He won't eat anything for us, and he's not too happy about being in the cage. I was hoping I could prevail upon you to come and see if you can get him to calm down. We could sedate him, but there's no sense in doing that just because he's making noise. Not if we don't have to."  
  
"Can we bring him home?"  
  
There was a hesitation there, and Sam smiled when she heard the howling grow even louder in the background.  
  
"We'll see. He's stable and seems fairly alert, but if we can't get him to eat, or take fluids, then I'm not sure I'll release him."  
  
"I'll be right there." As soon as she called Janet to check on Jack. She looked at Daniel, who was awake, now, and listening in on the conversation as well as he could. "We'll be right there." She corrected. She had no idea where her car was, after all, so Daniel would have to drive her. 


	10. 10

Author's note: okay the site is taking out all my dividers for some reason and all my sections of story are running together, which is pretty annoying, I gotta say. Just so you're all aware of why there's nothing separating each section...  
  
'''  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Janet?"  
  
"Sam. Good morning." The doctor sounded tired, already, Sam thought. And it was only 6 am. "How did you sleep?"  
  
"Okay, thanks. How's Jack?"  
  
There was hesitation, and then Fraiser sighed. "He still hasn't woken up."  
  
"Is he okay?"  
  
"Yes, Sam. He's stable, and his tests are all coming out fine. He's just not ready to rejoin us, I suppose. Being stubborn."  
  
"I want to see him."  
  
"I know. You can see him today. If you're quiet, I'll let you spend a while with him." Maybe Sam could get him to wake up for her. "Are you coming in, now?"  
  
"I have to stop at the vet's and check on Jaffer. They're having problems with him."  
  
"What kind of problems?" If something happened to the dog, Jack O'Neill would be affected.  
  
"He's fine, Janet." Sam smiled at the sudden concern in her voice. "He just won't stop howling, and he won't eat or drink for them. The vet asked if I could come down."  
  
"I see." Janet Fraiser wished she had that problem with her patient. If Jack would wake up, she could bully him into eating and drinking. But he had to wake up, first.  
  
"We'll be there soon, though."  
  
"Make sure you eat."  
  
Janet hung up.  
  
.....  
  
"Wow, is that Jaffer?" Daniel's eyes widened when they walked into the waiting area of the veterinarian clinic, and immediately heard the howls.  
  
"He sounds as if he is in some distress, Major Carter." Teal'c observed. His own Jack had never howled like that.  
  
"Doctor Ray said he's been doing it all night," Sam told them, again.  
  
"I can't imagine how anyone could get anything done listening to that."  
  
The receptionist smiled when she saw them walk in, a true smile of relief that told Sam the woman was having trouble getting anything done listening to that. Carter smiled.  
  
"Can we see him?"  
  
"Please do."  
  
They all grinned, and she led them into the back room, where a few very irritated looking vet-techs were trying to get some tests run, and work on some lab reports. Unfortunately, the howling was even louder in the back room.  
  
"Major Carter, over here." Monica Ray was standing by the door to the recovery room, and Sam, Daniel and Teal'c went over to join her.  
  
"He's really making a lot of noise," Sam observed.  
  
Ray nodded, and led them to the large covered cage, and took the blanket off, revealing one very miserable looking black lab puppy. Jaffer stopped howling immediately. And when he saw it was Sam, his tail wagged, happily. This was his second favorite person! She'd let him out!  
  
"Hey, Jaffer," Sam cooed, kneeling down and putting her fingers through the wire of the cage to try and comfort him. Jaffer licked her fingers, standing up and tripping over the casted leg, then standing up again, stubbornly.  
  
"He does not appear to be suffering from his injuries." Teal'c observed.  
  
Monica looked at the Jaffa, wondering who this very large man was. It was obvious that he was a good friend, though, because even though he was quite intimidating, Jaffer licked his fingers, too, when he leaned down and put them through the wire.  
  
"He's not." Dr. Ray said. "He's just not eating or drinking. And he won't stop howling."  
  
"Perhaps he is not drinking because he does not desire to be incarcerated further?"  
  
Ray smiled. "We're pretty sure that's what it is. But, Jaffer is prone to getting into trouble, and we don't want to let him loose without someone around who can control him. I know I can't get him to listen to me."  
  
"Is he in any pain?" Sam asked.  
  
She shook her head. "He's on painkillers. Nothing too strong, but kind of like a doggie aspirin. He shouldn't be feeling any discomfort he can't handle."  
  
"Then let me take him home. I can get him to eat, and I can probably handle him until Colonel O'Neill is well enough to."  
  
"I should keep him until-"Ray turned and saw the pleading looks from her staff, and sighed. There really wasn't any reason that he needed to stay, and if Major Carter was willing, then why not?  
  
Twenty minutes later, Teal'c was carefully carrying a newly liberated Jaffer out to Daniel's car, and putting him into the back seat. Sam had a long list of instructions, and a phone list of how to get hold of Dr. Ray, and Daniel was carrying a handful of medications.  
  
"You can let him walk for short periods of time," Ray was telling Sam – again – as she walked them to the car. "He needs to get used to it, and he's far too active to stay on his side for too long, anyways. Just keep an eye on him. If he shows any discomfort, or un-Jaffer-like characteristics, then bring him back, or call me."  
  
"We will."  
  
They got into the car and Daniel drove off.  
  
'''  
  
"Janet's NOT going to approve of this."  
  
"We can't leave him in the car, Daniel." Sam said as they walked down the corridors of the SGC. Teal'c was once more holding Jaffer in hi powerful arms, and the black lab was content to hold still as he was carried. He knew this place well, and he wasn't nervous at being here. "And we can't leave him with the other dogs, because he'll try to do more than he should, and he'll hurt himself playing with them."  
  
"I know, Sam." Daniel said. "I'm just saying... Janet's NOT going to approve of this."  
  
"I can't leave him at home. You wouldn't believe what he'll do to a place if he's left alone there."  
  
"Oh, I know." That was the voice of experience, and Sam grinned and wondered what she'd missed.  
  
"Then you know why I'm not leaving him in my lab, or in Colonel O'Neill's office." She smiled, "Would you like to volunteer your office as doggie day care center?"  
  
"No. I'd rather eat my own artifacts first, thank you."  
  
They walked into the infirmary, telling Teal'c to stay outside in the hall for a minute while Sam and Daniel tried to cushion the news of their newest patient. And found that Jack's bed was empty.  
  
"Sam!"  
  
She turned and saw Janet Fraiser walking in from a different entrance. "I was hoping I'd be here when you came in. We just moved Colonel O'Neill, and I didn't want you to panic when you saw the empty bed."  
  
She had started to panic, but Carter shook her head. "Me? Panic?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Where'd you move him to?"  
  
"One of the VIP quarters. There's more privacy, and I'm hoping if he doesn't hear the infirmary noises in his subconscious, he'll wake up sooner, thinking he's not in a hospital."  
  
"You're trying to trick him?" Daniel asked, surprised.  
  
"I'm trying to wake him up by letting him think maybe he's just waking up after a heavy night of drinking or something..." Fraiser said, trailing off, and trying to rephrase that. Finally, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm trying to trick him."  
  
"Can I see him?" Sam asked.  
  
"Sure." Fraiser gestured for them to head back out the entrance she came in, but Daniel interrupted.  
  
"What about Jaffer, Sam?"  
  
"Oh, yeah." Sam couldn't believe she'd almost forgot about that in her haste and desire to check on Jack.  
  
"What about Jaffer?" Fraiser asked, almost suspiciously. Sam suddenly looked fairly guilty and uncomfortable. 


	11. 11

"Absolutely not."  
  
"Janet-"  
  
"Sam."  
  
"I can't take him home, and I can't leave him alone."  
  
"Daniel can watch him."  
  
"Um, no. I have to get some work done on that translation for SG-6, and I can't watch Jaffer and do that at the same time."  
  
"What about Teal'c?"  
  
"He has to do his Kelnoreem. You know he couldn't do that with Jaffer around."  
  
"Well, he can't be with Colonel O'Neill."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because he's unconscious, Sam!"  
  
"I know, Janet. Jaffer sleeps with the Colonel all the time. He won't bother him."  
  
"He's dirty."  
  
"He is not."  
  
"He's not sanitary, Sam."  
  
"He might help you out, you know?"  
  
"Oh? Has he been taught to take blood pressure?"  
  
Sam ignored the sarcasm, knowing that Janet was just frustrated because Colonel O'Neill wasn't awake yet and she was worried.  
  
"Maybe if he feels Jaffer with him, it'll help him wake up faster."  
  
Fraiser thought about that for a moment, despite her irritation. THAT was an idea, she had to admit. Maybe the puppy could give that added boost that O'Neill needed to wake up. Obviously, what she'd tried so far hadn't helped much. The man was stable, but he wasn't waking up for her.  
  
"He can't be touching him," She said, firmly. "The bed's big enough that he can sleep on one part and the Colonel can sleep on the other, and the first time he makes a mess in that room, or howls, or whines, or scratches-"  
  
"I get it, Janet. He'll be good."  
  
They went out into the corridor where Teal'c was still standing patiently with Jaffer in his arms. The black lab looked half asleep, and very comfortable. Of course he was; he wasn't stuck in that little cage in the dark.  
  
"We're going to put him with the Colonel, Teal'c," Sam told him. Fraiser ignored the obvious surprise on Teal'c's face – which truly meant he was surprised, since he rarely showed that expression.  
  
"Follow me."  
  
She led them down to the VIP room that she'd assigned to O'Neill, and opened the door, silently. Sam walked in first, followed by Teal'c, then Daniel, then Fraiser, and they all walked over to the bed.  
  
Jack was still out. His face was still pale and calm, and he was in the same position he'd been in when Fraiser had last checked on him. There was an IV still replacing fluids – plasma and saline, for the most part, although Fraiser would decide later if she needed to give him another pint of blood or if his body was catching up quickly enough, now. Sam reached down and touched his hand, wishing the touch would wake him up so she could stop worrying about him, but nothing happened.  
  
Fraiser sighed. She'd hoped Sam's touch would wake the Colonel, too, and when it didn't she shook her head and motioned for Teal'c to put Jaffer down on the bed.  
  
"Not touching him," She cautioned the Jaffa, who did as he was told. Jaffer's tail was wagging furiously, now, as he realized who was in the bed, and his eyes – which had been mostly closed as he'd started falling asleep – were now wide open and cheerful.  
  
Carefully, making sure not to jar O'Neill or Jaffer, Teal'c lowered the lab to the bed. Jaffer whined, softly, and immediately shifted so he was pressed tightly up against O'Neill's side, and rested his head on Jack's injured thigh.  
  
"Sam..."  
  
"It's how he normally sleeps, Janet. He'll settle in a second."  
  
Sure enough, once his head was down and he was as close to Jack as he could get without being under the blankets or under his skin, Jaffer sighed deeply, and closed his eyes. With every impression that the dog wasn't going to move again until Jesus came back, Fraiser shrugged, and decided to not press the issue.  
  
"Are you going to stay with him?" She asked Sam.  
  
Carter nodded. "If I can."  
  
"If he's staying, then you need to stay, too. I'm not going to leave him alone with the Colonel."  
  
"I'll stay." Sam assured her, although she really didn't think Jaffer was going to do anything to hurt Jack. He was pretty good at picking up on things like that, after all, and he knew when someone was hurting, or needed special gentleness.  
  
"Good." She turned to Daniel and Teal'c, and ushered them out.  
  
"If you need anything, call me." She said, as she followed the two out.  
  
Sam nodded, and waited until the door closed, then she sat down on the edge of the bed – on the opposite side of Jack that Jaffer was on – and took his hand again, watching and waiting for some sign that he was going to wake up and tell her everything was all right. 


	12. 12

Something wet and slobbery was dragged along his face. Jack felt it, vaguely, and tried to ignore it. He was tired, and wasn't ready to wake up. The wet... towel?... was dragged along his face again, this time across his mouth. That was annoying, but still Jack tried to ignore it. Again on his mouth, and then he felt it sliding into one nostril. That wasn't just annoying, it was a little painful. Who was washing out his nose so roughly?  
  
"Stop..." He turned his head, eyes tightly closed. He was going to stay asleep, damn it! He was tired.  
  
The towel followed, and Jack felt a familiar weight pressing against his chest, and realized even in his half-asleep state what was going on.  
  
"Jaffer..." He opened his eyes, and turned his head. Sure enough, the black lab was sprawled on him, brown eyes looking down at him cheerfully, even as the long – wet – tongue snaked out and took another swipe at Jack's face, catching him right in the open mouth. Jack sputtered.  
  
"Jaffer, stop..."  
  
He brought his hand up, and tried to push the dog off his chest and saw the brilliant white bandages wrapped around the lab's jet-black chest, and stopped.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Colonel!"  
  
Sam's voice made him turn his head, and Jaffer took advantage of the distraction and took another swipe at Jack with his tongue. This time catching him in the ear.  
  
"Jaffer!"  
  
Sam was walking through the door to his room – no, this wasn't his room... carrying a bowl of something. She smiled, and came over to the bed, setting the bowl down on the stand next to it.  
  
"You're awake."  
  
"Yeah." Jack scowled, and turned his head to look at Jaffer, who was still sprawled on him.  
  
"What happened? Why's he bandaged like that?"  
  
"He's got a few cracked ribs. And a broken leg."  
  
"What?"  
  
Jack rolled over, sat up and caught Jaffer up in his arms, realizing for the first time that he had an IV tube attached to himself. Jaffer wagged his tail and tried to lick O'Neill again, but Jack held him still as he ran a hand along the young lab's body, looking for injuries. Jaffer shifted, and the casted leg came down in the vicinity of Jack's crotch, which caused him to wince.  
  
"He's okay," Sam assured him, quickly. "The vet said he'd make a full recovery, and the break was a clean one."  
  
"What happened, Sam?"  
  
"What do you remember?"  
  
Jack rested his chin on Jaffer's big head, and tried to think back. Then he shook his head with another scowl.  
  
"Nothing."  
  
"There was an accident." Sam said, sitting on the edge of his bed and reaching her hand out and touching his cheek. "We were on our way to take your truck to the shop, and a car ran a light and slammed into you."  
  
"Are you okay?" Jack asked quickly.  
  
"I wasn't in the truck, Jack," Sam told him, gently. He still seemed to be a little out of it. "I was following in my car."  
  
"And you're okay?"  
  
"I'm fine, Jack."  
  
"I don't remember getting hit by anything, Sam." Jack said, a tad irritated.  
  
"It was a bad accident." As if that explained everything. "We were getting worried about you, though."  
  
"Why?" He looked down at Jaffer again, who had settled in Jack's lap, although the look he gave O'Neill plainly said that he was going to lick him again the minute his attention was elsewhere.  
  
"We just were." Sam said, shrugging. She didn't want to get into a list of his injuries, just then. She wanted to just look at him. He seemed to be fairly lucid, and there was more color in hi face, now. And a lot of slobber on his stubbled chin. "How do you feel?"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"A little tired, maybe."  
  
"I should let you sleep. Janet will want to know you woke up. She's been worried."  
  
Jack nodded, and it was a measure of just how tired he felt that he didn't argue with her. "Maybe a little more sleep..." He said, sinking back down onto the bed, and moving Jaffer carefully off his lap, keeping a close eye on the position of the dog's cast. The black lab took the new position calmly, and rested his head on his Colonel's belly.  
  
Sam reached over and stroked Jaffer's head, wondering if she could trust the dog to let Jack sleep. Obviously she couldn't trust him to let him sleep while she went and got a bowl of water, after all. Jaffer's eyes closed under Sam's gentle touch, and she smiled. Her smile grew when Jack voiced a complaint.  
  
"How come he's getting all the attention?"  
  
"Want me to rub your belly?" God, she was so glad he was well enough to tease!  
  
"No, I want you to call Teal'c in here and have him do it." Jack reached out and caught her hand, and Sam gripped it as tightly as she dared.  
  
"Don't ever do that again, okay?" She said, leaning over and kissing him gently.  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Worry me."  
  
"Who me?" Jack brought her hand up to his lips and kissed it. "I can't imagine why you'd worry about me, Sam."  
  
"Me either." She smiled, and then sat next to him silently, watching as his eyes closed and he drifted off to sleep. 


	13. 13

Author's Note: Mother's DAY! Had to spend time with mommy (and grandma) otherwise this would have been up sooner, most likely. So blame my mom!  
  
..  
  
He slept most of the day. Which was a sure sign that even though he'd woken up and had an actual conversation, Colonel O'Neill was far from recovered from his injuries. He would have slept longer, except Janet Fraiser woke him twice to run some reflex tests, and another time Jaffer woke him wanting to go out – luckily for all parties concerned, Teal'c was close at hand and Carter asked him to take Jaffer for Jack. Sam had sat and talked to Jack while they were out, knowing that Jaffer's return would just wake him up again anyways, and O'Neill was willing to stay awake for a little while. But he was tired, and luckily the black lab came back half an hour later, looking more than ready to resume his own nap.  
  
"Colonel?"  
  
A voice broke into his sleep, but Jack decided to ignore it. He really just wanted to rest. Somewhere inside him there was a place that just wasn't right, yet, and he had no desire to move around – or even open his eyes – until that place was normal again. Had he mentioned it to Fraiser, Janet could have told him it was from the substantial blood loss he'd suffered. His strength wasn't back, and he was tired, and it would pass as soon as he caught up. Until then, he was just going to be lethargic.  
  
He didn't mention it to her, though. Aside from those few times, he blatantly ignored everyone's efforts to wake him, even Sam's. He knew – deep down – that Carter didn't mind letting him sleep, and wanted him to rest, so he didn't even have to feel guilty about ignoring her. Fraiser just wanted to poke him with needles, and Jack knew – even as sleepy as he was – that she could do that without his assistance. The only one he really had to rouse himself for was Jaffer, and his lab was feeling pretty miserable as well, despite being already well on the road to recovery, so Jaffer was more than willing to not ask much more of Jack than a warm side to cuddle against, and a thigh or belly to rest his head on.  
  
"Colonel? Wake up a little, will you?"  
  
He sighed. Whoever it was – and he was pretty certain it was Janet Fraiser – wasn't going to let him ignore her.  
  
"I'm sleeping." He whispered.  
  
"I know. We need to change the bandage on your leg."  
  
"Okay." He slowly started to drift off again.  
  
"Colonel?"  
  
"Hmmm?"  
  
"We need you to move Jaffer. He's in the way."  
  
He wasn't that big, Jack thought petulantly as he sighed again and gave up. They probably could move the dog without help. Of course, they might hurt Jaffer, who was probably as sore as Jack, himself, and O'Neill couldn't let that happen. He opened his eyes, and sat up slightly, looking down at himself.  
  
Janet Fraiser was there, along with one of the corpsmen. Who was actually a woman about the same age as Daniel. They were both eyeing Jaffer, who had his body pressed warmly against Jack's side, and his head resting gently on Jack's injured thigh. The one they were going to change the bandages on. The one they told him had been stabbed clear through with a piece of metal from his truck.  
  
"Jaffer."  
  
The black head came up, looking at Jack to see what he wanted.  
  
"Go to the other side, little man. Doc needs that side." He made a motion with his arm – the one that didn't have all the tubes attached – and Jaffer sighed and stood up on the bed and then carefully stepped over Jack and plopped down on the other side.  
  
"He sure is well trained," The corpsman said, smiling and admiring the black lab. He was a pretty dog, even rumpled and bandaged, after all.  
  
"He's well-trained for the Colonel," Fraiser said, flipping the blanket to the side and exposing Jack's thigh. "He's deaf for pretty much everyone else."  
  
"He's just misunderstood, Doc," Jack said, watching as Fraiser cut off the bandages, and wincing when she revealed the very long line of stitches that held his thigh muscles together. "Ick."  
  
Ick was pretty accurate. Along with the nasty wound, there was a lot of bruising, and this was the first time Jack was getting a look at any of it. Since he wasn't wearing a paper gown – thank God – he could see that his chest and side were bruised as well. The left side, anyways. Apparently where his truck had slammed into him after the car had slammed into his truck.  
  
"You were very lucky." Fraiser told him.  
  
Jack shook his head. He knew better.  
  
"I'm lucky I have a good doctor," he said, softly, looking up from his leg to look at her.  
  
She brought her head up, expecting to see that cocky grin of his that meant he was teasing her, but his eyes were serious, and there was no smile. He meant it, and she wasn't sure how to take that compliment, since she was far more used to complaints and grumbling. So she ignored it, although she did flush slightly. Enough that she knew it was happening, but luckily not enough for O'Neill to notice.  
  
"You'll be up in a few days, Colonel," She told him as she applied an antibiotic to the stitched area, just to make sure there'd be no chance of infection. "But I don't want you to be using the stairs until the stitches come out, and I don't want you on your feet for more than ten minutes at a time."  
  
"But-"  
  
"No buts." She told him. This was more what she was used to, and she fell into the pattern of bullying him quite easily. "If you rip my stitches trying to do too much too soon, I'll put staples in, and they hurt a lot more."  
  
"Aw, Doc." He rested his hand on Jaffer's head. "How long till they come out?"  
  
"A week, maybe more. Depends on you."  
  
"How long do I have to stay in bed?"  
  
"Considering how much trouble we had waking you? At least another couple days. Probably more."  
  
He thought about complaining about that, but really... he was too tired to complain. He was too tired to do much more than scowl and watch as she put on a new bandage and wrap his leg with enough gauze to wrap around the Earth at least twice. He almost complained about that, too, but decided not to. She'd just give him some perfectly good reason for having so much, and then would shush him, anyways.  
  
Fraiser rested her hand on his forehead, knowing when he didn't complain that there was a reason for it. Deciding that it would be okay to let him sleep sitting up a bit – now that he was regaining some color – she tucked a couple pillows behind his back to prop him up.  
  
"Go to sleep, Colonel." She said, smiling when she remembered the compliment he'd given her. (She wished she had had a video camera or something, since no one would ever believe it!) "When you wake up next time, you should feel a little better, and maybe be up to eating something solid."  
  
"Yeah?" He closed his eyes, his hand resting on Jaffer's bandaged side, now. He wasn't going to argue with her. "Like what?"  
  
"Soup?"  
  
"Soup isn't solid."  
  
"Strained carrots?"  
  
"Ugh..."  
  
Her soft laughter followed him into sleep as Jack gave up the banter and gave into his exhaustion, content in the knowledge that he was truly in the best of hands. 


	14. 14

Hospital type food is far easier to deal with when you have company; Jack discovered the first time he was given something solid to eat – which was later that night. Fraiser had gone home for the evening, but had left instructions with the evening staff as to what she wanted O'Neill to eat if he were to wake up and ask for something.  
  
It wasn't the steak and eggs he'd requested. It wasn't steak or eggs, or even toast, Jack realized sourly when an orderly put the tray across his lap with an apologetic smile. It was warm – nowhere near hot – split pea soup, and a slice of bread. Wheat bread with all those little seed and nuts in it. Jack hated wheat bread with seeds and nuts in it. Almost as much as he hated split pea soup.  
  
"You're kidding, right?"  
  
"Sorry, Sir. Doctor Fraiser's orders."  
  
Jack scowled, but the man hurried out of the room before he could truly start his complaining.  
  
"I'm not eating this." Jack grumbled to himself.  
  
Jaffer had already decided that something smelled interesting, and he had watched as the orderly set the tray down and decided to investigate. When he stuck his black nose into Jack's bowl, the Colonel didn't do anything. When he decided that hey! split pea soup is pretty good! Jack simply smiled and encouraged him. He wasn't going to eat the crap, but if they thought he had then maybe they'd bring him something else. He fell asleep while Jaffer was eating his bread, and when the orderly came to clean the dishes and collect the tray; he found the black lab and Jack O'Neill both sound asleep and the bowl cleaned. The man nodded, and made a note of it on Jack's chart, which was on a clipboard by the door. Obviously the Colonel was hungrier than they'd thought.  
  
...  
  
"I want eggs." Jack said the next morning when Janet raiser woke him up to check on him. "Eggs and toast, and bacon, and coffee."  
  
"We'll see, Colonel."  
  
O'Neill scowled. 'We'll see' meant 'no', and he knew it. He wasn't stupid, after all.  
  
Sure enough, breakfast had been brought, and it wasn't any of the things Jack had asked for. There was a bowl of moist dog food for Jaffer – from instructions from his own doctor – and there was a small array of fruit and cottage cheese. And more wheat toast with seeds and nuts.  
  
"I'm not eating this." Jack said as soon as it was set in front of him.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sir," The orderly – a different one than the night before – said. "This is what Doctor Fraiser says you're allowed. You'll have to talk to her if you want something else."  
  
"Tell her to come here," Jack said, looking for all the world like he was about ready to get out of bed and beat the man over the head with his tray. Of course, O'Neill knew that it wasn't his fault that Fraiser was torturing him, so he didn't. In fact, he even added "please" to the end of his order.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sir." He told Jack. "She's meeting with General Hammond and can't be disturbed. "Maybe if you-"  
  
O'Neill scowled. Oh, he wasn't happy. The orderly beat a hasty retreat, and Jack looked down at the dog food Jaffer was busily finishing off, and then looked at his own plate. Then back at the dog food, once more. But it was gone in an instant, before he could even decide if it looked good enough to eat. Jack sighed, and handed his plate to Jaffer, who decided that hey! cottage cheese is pretty good stuff, too! And even better with the fruity goodness of peaches and strawberries and pineapple.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
Jack looked up guiltily as Daniel poked his head in the door just in time to see Jaffer downing the slice of wheat toast.  
  
"Daniel! Damn it, knock."  
  
"You're obviously lucky I'm not Doctor Fraiser. I don't think that stuff is good for him, Jack." He said as he crossed the room and watched Jaffer licking the crumbs off the plate and Jack's tray.  
  
"He likes it." Jack said. "Bring me something to eat, will you? Something good. Like Taco bell, or Burger King, or something like that."  
  
"It's 8:30, Jack."  
  
"I don't care."  
  
Daniel shook his head. "Janet wouldn't like that."  
  
"She wouldn't find out."  
  
"Yes, she would."  
  
"Damn it, Daniel."  
  
"You wouldn't be able to hide the smell of a Big Mac, Jack."  
  
He scowled, but realized Daniel was right.  
  
"Okay, then get me a sandwich. A couple sandwiches."  
  
"How am I supposed to hide them?"  
  
"I don't care. You're some kind of genius, you figure it out."  
  
"You should probably just eat whatever it is Janet's feeding you, Jack."  
  
"Do you like wheat bread with seeds? The next time I get some, I'll save it for you."  
  
"Seeds?"  
  
"And little nuts. And no butter or anything."  
  
"Ugh." Daniel shuddered. "All right, but only if you keep quite about where you got them when you get caught."  
  
"I won't get caught."  
  
"Yes, you will."  
  
Daniel walked out of the infirmary, and returned a while later with a small bulge in the side of his shirt, which he'd covered with his hand and his arm. It was a good thing Fraiser was still off doing whatever, Jack thought, because Daniel looked so guilty, and was trying so hard to hide it – and failing miserably – that she would have suspected something immediately, and probably had stripped searched him. And definitely would have found the two triple-decker sandwiches that Daniel set down in front of him a moment later.  
  
"Yes!"  
  
Jack ripped the plastic wrap off one and started eating hungrily.  
  
"I take back everything I ever said about you, Daniel." Jack said as he handed Jaffer a piece of his sandwich before the lab could even ask.  
  
"Well, that'll make me feel so much better when Fraiser finds out where you got them."  
  
"She won't." Jack assured him.  
  
She never did, either. Janet Fraiser had to admit she was very impressed with the way O'Neill was acting. He was almost a model patient. He ate everything that was put in front of him – and never left so much as a crust – and never complained. Of course, once he started feeling a little better, he started bitching about getting up, but that just meant he was getting better, and Fraiser didn't take that personally at all. She simply told him that she'd see. Which, of course, meant 'no'.  
  
She should have been suspicious. Daniel Jackson, Teal'c, and even Sam had all on occasion looked guilty when they looked at her, and she'd never thought to ask why, thinking that it was something personal and not wanting to pry, or assuming that they were worried about Jack and she was simply reading their expressions wrong. Not hard to do with Teal'c, after all. Little did she know that Jack had convinced them all that he'd make a far quicker recovery if he were well-fed. And that meant eating good stuff! Then he'd simply hide the wrappers under Jaffer's bandages, and whoever took the lab out for his walk – or to pee – would dig them out carefully and throw them away. Evidence gone, and Jack was eating good. He wasn't as dumb as he looked, or acted after all.  
  
It continued right up until the day Fraiser let him out of bed, and the conspirators never said a word to each other, or to Jack about it. They didn't know that he'd corrupted all of them, and each assumed they were the only one who was bucking Janet's reign. Jack didn't mention it, either, of course. Not even when Janet commented on how well he cleaned his plates. He just kept his face carefully neutral, and asked once more when he'd be able to get out of bed. 


	15. Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
...  
  
"Hey Jack! Nice truck!"  
  
O'Neill grinned and waved at Dotty and James Adams, who had just dropped Shawn off for the weekend. He was standing in his driveway next to the brand new truck he and Sam had went shopping for earlier that week, and he had to admit that he liked it even better than his old one.  
  
"Thanks, Shawn. It's a little bigger than the other one, and Jaffer can't get up in it on his own, but he'll grow into it."  
  
"I like the color."  
  
"Thanks." He took Shawn's bag from him which freed the boy up to greet Jaffer, who was running up to him in an awkward gait, since he still had the cast on his leg – and would for another couple weeks. Jack smiled as Shawn was bowled over by the half-grown lab, not at all concerned since the boy was on the grass so neither puppy nor child could really be hurt.  
  
"Everyone's out back. We'll get your stuff put in the guest room, then go out, okay?"  
  
"Okay." Shawn stood up and took his bag back from Jack, knowing that he wasn't supposed to be carrying much of anything, and that he still needed his hands free in case he decided to actually use the cane he was supposed to be using, and ran ahead, with Jaffer looking from boy to man as if to decide who he wanted to follow.  
  
"Go ahead, little man," Jack said, smiling down at his lab and gesturing for him to follow Shawn into the front door. "I won't take it personally."  
  
Jaffer turned from Jack and stumped into the house after Shawn and Jack followed at a much more sedate pace. His leg was still extremely sore – although he'd never admit that to anyone but Sam, who was with him so much that there was no way he could hide it from her – but it was healing nicely, and Janet Fraiser had told him he'd be able to get his stitches out soon. A little rehab, and Jack would be back on full duty.  
  
Jack walked into the house and was almost run over by his yellow namesake, who had heard Shawn arrive and was rushing to get a greeting of his own. O'Neill dodged him, pretending to be annoyed, but he wasn't at all.  
  
"Shawn! I'll be out back when you're unpacked."  
  
"Okay, Jack! I'll be there soon." As soon as he got his video game system hooked up to the TV Jack had put into the guest room for just such a purpose, and had given both labs as much attention as they could handle.  
  
Jack reached into the fridge and pulled out a soda, and walked out the sliding glass door and onto his deck to rejoin his party.  
  
Everyone was there. Sam and Daniel were standing at the barbeque, Daniel flipping burgers, Sam telling him he was burning them. Cassandra was teaching Teal'c how to play crochet, which was something he'd never tried before, and General Hammond was lounging in a chair at the picnic table talking to Janet Fraiser and Dr. Monica Ray – who had only the week before received a very lovely bouquet of flowers and a thank you note from Jack, inviting her to his house the next weekend for a barbeque and a chance to check on Jaffer.  
  
The young vet had been the brunt of a lot of good-natured jokes at her clinic that week from her staff, but they all knew that Jack was seeing someone else and wasn't romantically interested in her. It was fun to tease, though. So she'd come to his barbeque. And she was glad she had. For one thing, she was having a good time. Jack O'Neill's friends were all very easy to get along with, and were interesting. Especially Doctor Janet Fraiser.  
  
Monica had a while back wondered if there were another doctor out there who had to deal with all of Jack's injuries – since every time he came in with an injured Jaffer the Colonel always seemed to be injured as well – and she'd had that question answered. Janet Fraiser was Jack's primary doctor, and the two had already become friends, each telling horror stories of dealing with their patients – not just Jack and Jaffer, although there were plenty of those stories as well.  
  
Another reason Monica was glad she'd come was she had a chance to meet Jack – who was Jaffer's brother, named after Colonel O'Neill, and belonged to Jack's large friend, Murray.  
  
Jack was another beautiful lab, although he was yellow instead of black. Perfectly formed – like Jaffer – he was a little smaller, and far better behaved than the black lab puppy was. Probably because Murray seemed a little more reserved than Jack O'Neill was. Or maybe he was just less spoiled? He was just as well trained as Jaffer was, and unlike the black lab – who did whatever Jack told him to but pretty much ignored everyone else – Jack was more than willing to do his tricks for anyone who asked him. Teal'c told her what Jack could do, and Monica would give him the command, and Jack would perform them flawlessly. It made her wonder what the two labs would be capable of by the time they were fully grown, since they were obviously being trained by professionals who had nothing but time to devote to the dogs' schooling.  
  
"Soda, Doc?" Jack asked.  
  
The two doctors both looked up, and O'Neill grinned. He probably shouldn't have let the two meet. God only knew what they were talking about.  
  
"Are you supposed to be walking without your cane, Jack?" Monica asked, frowning.  
  
"Where's your cane, Colonel?" Janet asked at the same moment.  
  
Jack scowled.  
  
...  
  
the end! 


End file.
